Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Westfield Solano Mall Considers Expansion

FAIRFIELD - Westfield Solano mall may soon begin a growth spurt on par with many of its teenage patrons.

Developers with parent company, Westfield Corp., submitted plans to the city of Fairfield to increase the mall's size by roughly 150,000 square feet - about the area of three football fields.

The expansion would add about 10 percent more leaseable space to the mall's current one million square feet. The proposed addition would occur between Sears and Macy's on both floors of that wing. It would also include a one-level parking structure.

In addition, 24-Hour Fitness is considering building a new club on the site of the former Solano Mall Cinema 6, which is now vacant. The club would be about 21,000 square feet and includes a swimming pool, according to plans filed with the city.

Under this proposal, the former cinema would be torn down.

Also proposed is a full-service car wash, which would be about a 9,000-square-foot facility. Entry to the car wash would be from the mall's internal road system.

Brian Miller, with the city's planning and development department, stressed the projects were not finalized.

"It's likely this may change a lot," he said.

As previously reported, the Westfield developers plan on refurbishing the interior of the mall, including new flooring, added skylights and signs, and a new sound system.

Keith Kaplan, development director with Los Angeles-based Westfield Corp., has been working with the city to re-brand the mall, adding new signs outside and creating a mall theme.

The proposed theme consists of four parts: Flight, winery, market and fair. Each quadrant of the mall will have one of the themes and a correlating color scheme.